Shortlived Love in the Grass

This is the story of the female preying mantis that eats her mate after copulation. I was made aware of this unusual practice when I was in second grade. I found two preying mantises and put them in a box to take to Mr. Monroe the science teacher. The next morning when I opened the box, there remained only one preying mantis, some wings and a big egg sack. Shocking. Later, in Rosalind Krauss class at Columbia, I learned that this custom is the inspiration for the expression “Vagina Dentata”.